LEICESTER STARS APPLAUSE FOR RODGERS SPEECH

BRENDAN RODGERS was given a round of applause by Leicester’s dressing room after his first speech to the squad.

The new Foxes boss (above) was in the stands to see Leicester beat Brighton 2-1 on Tuesday night under caretaker Mike Stowell.

It was the club’s first win in eight games after a dire slump that cost Claude Puel his job as Leicester’s stars lost faith in him.

Rodgers will take charge of his first game at Watford on Sunday and is due to take training today when he will give a presentation to the squad on his vision for the club.

Defender Ricardo Pereira says the players are excited to start working with Rodgers and have already applauded him after his initial words.

The 25-year-old (below with Jamie Vardy) said: “It was a good speech. He said good things are to come. He is looking for that from us. The manager is looking forward to working with us, he wants us to have a lot of quality and to improve us.

“From what I have heard, he is a good coach. “He likes to play good football. With the quality we have here, he’s going to be good for us. It’s important that he has worked with big clubs.

“He is a manager with quality and has done well with more than one team. I hope he continues that here.”

Rodgers is expected to freshen up and inject more enjoyment into the club’s training regime that stars felt was dull under the low-key Puel.

The new Foxes boss has stated his excitement about working with their young stars including Demarai Gray who was on the scoresheet for his fourth of the season against Brighton as another youngster Harvey Barnes also impressed.

But Rodgers will demand even more, as Pereira admitted: “He said that we played a good game but he thinks we will play better.”

There had been suggestions Leicester may have waited until the summer to get their man from the Scottish champions who were chasing a third treble. But Leicester stars are now eager to get going.

Pereira said: “We want to start now, we have to improve. We shouldn’t wait for next season.

“We will start learning how he wants to play. We are adult players who can absorb that in the middle of the season.”